Day 53 ... Chicken in Creamy Peanut Sauce

CHICKEN IN CREAMY PEANUT SAUCE

This evening, I decided to make a chicken dish.

I was at Starbucks with Justine in the afternoon. Sms-ed Carol and she said she had no dinner plans. So she would drop by and we'll cook dinner again tonight. This is a very simple dish. We had it with yam rice, courtesy of our mother.

1. Chicken Dish

Saute onions and garlic in sesame seed oil.

Add chicken fillet (cut into bite size). Stir fry.

Add shitake mushrooms (without the stems) and carrots.

Add fresh milk, peanut butter, non-msg chicken stock.

Simmer until chicken pieces are cooked.

Add bell peppers, spring onion (strips) and chilly (strips).

Toss well and transfer to serving dish.

2. Yam Rice

Carol says, fry onions, yam (cut into bite size), 

strips of carrots and rice grains. 

Add shoyu and seasalt. 

Steam to cook.

3. Garnish & Serve

Whatever we cook is going to be just great, says Dr Carol.

Justine was lured into the kitchen by the aroma.

Add in the bell peppers, chilly strips and spring onions 

just before transfering the contents to a serving dish.

The healthy peanut butter that we used, without the peanuts, 

but no compromise on the taste.

Sprinkle a pinch of black sesame seeds for contrast.

My Dinner this evening. 

The yam rice tasted great and the chicken was tasty 

with the creamy peanut sauce and crunchy vegetables.

LUNCH

We had lunch at Chatterbox, Bangsar Village 2. 

Justine had the cheese baked rice with pork chop in Italian red sauce.
What a mouthful ... the name.

I had the Chatterbox Soup Noodles.

In short, instant noddles.

Day 52 ... Tamarind Prawns

TAMARIND PRAWNS (ASSAM PRAWNS)

Carol and I attended the Sunset Mass this evening at 5pm. 

We stayed back for the Novena. Left church at 6:30pm. During Mass, Carol had whispered, let's cook dinner tonight. I had told her that Bryan and Justine were not around, so we could eat out after church. To be honest, I kinda lost my momentum to cook at home since the Penang trip, and also, the night before (Friday), I had broken the chain of cooking dinner at home since Day 1 of blogging about dinner. So when she suggested cooking at home, I somehow did not "drift further away" but instead felt like being pulled back to shore. 

The cook-dinner-at-home shore. :D

Told her okay, we'll do something easy, since it's just the both of us. How about assam prawns? I have some tamarind paste (assam jawa) in the fridge. We only need to get some prawns. She said, yeah okay. So came back to Taman Desa, dropped by Sri Kota, to get some prawns. They looked pretty fresh, to my inexperienced eyes. Picked up 20 tiger prawns, will tapau some for our mother too.

Am glad we decided to prepare assam prawns. 

It's really easy although the dish did not quite turned out the way we expected it too. Our mother used to prepare the nyonya kind one, where the prawn is coated with the assam, and fried, with no gravy. I wanted to do that, but the prawns started sticking to the saucepan, and I had no choice but to throw in water. Which resulted in an assam-gravy kind of prawn dish, which surprisingly went very well with the rice, along with the vegetables that Carol cooked. We both ate with our fingers, while watching DVD Two And A Half Men. Food somehow tastes better when we eat with our hands.

1. Tamarind Prawns

Clean the prawns and de-vein them. Leave shell on.

Saute a generous amount of garlic and onions.

Add some tamarind paste straight from the packet. 

Add the prawns. Sprinkle brown sugar over.

Stir-fry. Add water.

Was ready in less than 10 minutes.

2. Stir-fried Cabbage with Tempeh

Carol cooked this dish. 

Saute garlic and onions.

Add the cabbage and carrots.

Add shoyu. Add water.

Transfer to serving bowl.

Stir-fry tempeh in the same pan.

Add dark soya sauce. A bit of water.

Toss to coat.

Transfer to the vegetable bowl 

and toss to mix.

3. Garnish & Serve

We sprinkled some chopped spring onions  over the assam prawns

and pulled a sprig of coriander leaves to decorate the vegetables.

And now we add the cabbage and the carrots ...

Kish was in the kitchen when we first started, and I almost stepped on her. Then, she went to lay by the fridge. I had to kacau her to get the cabbage out. So finally she went outside to the dining area and relaxed there while Carol and I were in the kitchen. She had already taken her dinner. Carol boiled some fish for her just before they came over. Yeah, Kish loves fish. Sometimes, she thinks she's a cat. :D She's a pretty girl but highly sensitive. She has feelings like a real gurl, believe it or not. A neighbour had commented that she looks like she has eye liner on.

Stir-fried cabbage with tempeh

Carol's plate. We had our dinner with white rice today.

This is my plate. Looks like we were competing to see who can pile up more.

Absolutely tantalising and finger lickin' delicious.

Remarked to Carol, "Look at the two of us, eat until like this - donno celebrating what ..."

Then a good reason sprang to mind, 

"Ahh, we're celeberating Daniel's 7th month with God." :D

She was like, "Yeah, yeah, we're celebrating that."

We had mangoes for dessert.

LUNCH

 

Justine with her pan mee and honey lemon iced drink 

at a newly opened makan shop in our area.

Our verdict after lunch : 

The sambal sauces cannot beat JoJo's @ Kuchai Entrepreneur's Park.

Day 51 ...

Day 50 ... Oven-Baked Chicken Casserole with Pasta

OVEN-BAKED CHICKEN CASSEROLE WITH PASTA

I prepared a casserole for dinner tonight.

Could have had that with rice except that I know Justine prefers pasta to rice. Normally, our daughter doesn't like to take her carrots, but cooked this way, she sapu everything. Finished up everything that was on her plate. This is a simple one meal dish prepared in the oven. Serve with a side salad, if desired.

1. Half-boil the pasta noodles

Found some spaghetti pasta in the food cabinet, so I used that. 

Could have used those spiral pasta for this dish, 

easier to scoop out when ready, but forgot to replenish.

2. Prepare in Saucepan

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. 

Add and sear the chicken thighs. 

Add potatoes, carrots and tomatoes. 

Basil herbs, seasalt and pepper. 

I have a Bisto gravy mix in the fridge. So I used that for the gravy. 

Mixed 2 tablespoons with a coffee mug of water and poured over the ingredients in the pan. 

The consistency will quickly thicken.

3. In the Oven

Transfer the pasta into oven dish. Pour the contents of the saucepan over. 

Place the cover on to retain moisture or use tin foil. 

Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for about 45 minutes. Check the dish.

Add some cheese on top and pop back into the oven, 

without the cover, to brown the contents a little more.

Garnish with coriander leaves and lemon slices. 

We didn't bother with the side salad.

That's Dinner! :D

LUNCH IN AMPANG

Eric took us to this famous chicken rice restaurant in Ampang for lunch.

We ordered half a chicken, tofu and tauge. Told him if he likes chicken rice, 

have to try Bryan's Hainanese chicken rice. 

 

It wouldn't be chicken rice without the chilly sauce ...

Close up ...

PRE-LUNCH SNACK

Before we went for lunch, Cathy served us with these MUST-TRY mini tarts. She had just bought them from a nearby pastry shop and they were still warm. Just melted in the mouth, literally. The top left is egg tart, beside it on the right, kaya puff. Can't remember the bottom ones. They come in mini sizes. Very tasty. Wonder if they do curry puffs too. She had a guest in her home, so she didn't join us for lunch. Invited her for a cooking session. We'll be making assam laksa at my place very soon. Stay tuned for that. :D

Meet Shaggy, the friendly and highly energetic "shih-tzu and poodle" mixed breed.

Bryan snapped 4 photos, and all 4 were kinda blur, 

because Shaggy was just so exciteable and couldn't sit still.

I had one shake of The Green Drink this morning, 

kueh for brunch, Ampang's chicken rice for lunch

and the casserole pasta for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake, 1 snack & 2 meals

Juice. Fruit. Water

Time of Posting : 10:28am (Friday)

Day 49 ... Pan Fried Garoupa with Tumeric

PAN FRIED GAROUPA WITH TUMERIC

Tonight, Bryan fried some fish with tumeric.

We both had that with crock pot porridge and beancurd sticks (courtesy of Grace from Penang). Justine and Carol had the briyani lamb and tandoori chicken that we tapau-ed for home the day before. There's just something about fish being fried with tumeric. The aroma in the kitchen was just heavenly. Bryan also fried some onions and ginger sticks at the same time. The fish was marinated with seasalt and pepper. That's all. Was very tasty and went well with our porridge.

My dinner. See the long strips - those are the bean curd sticks that Grace's mum fried. We have a large nescafe bottle of those crunchy strips. Had my porridge with a dollop of marmite and a drizzle of flax seed oil. Sprinkled some sunflower seeds and spring onions on top as well. Bryan says, why do You have to make a simple porridge so complicated? Grin. 

Justine with her briyani. Second round. 

Lunch and dinner was Kapitan's Briyani from Penang.

Carol came over after work, after shower, 

all relaxed in her home outfit to enjoy her briyani.

Tandoori chicken and lamb on yellow briyani rice.

Finger lickin' good. :D

Kish was waiting for her bone ... which never came. I didn't want her to mess the carpet.

Forgot to save some for her to take in her bowl, threw into the garbage food bin.

She went home with Carol, quite mad with me.

Had pomeloes from Tapah rest area for dessert.

Had my one shaker of The Green Drink for breakfast, 

naan bread with some potato curry for lunch 

and fish porridge for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Juice. Fruit. Water.

Time of Posting : 9:21am (Friday)

Day 48 ... Penang's Attitude Char Kueh Teow

 CHAR KUEH TEOW

About 9:30am, Bryan and I met up with Grace and her mother for breakfast in Kampong Jawa. That's my first plate of char kueh teow. Arrived that way. No, we didn't push the noddles aside. This particular hawker person serves the fried kueh teow in this one-sided way. Grace calls it, The Attitude Char Kueh Teow. Then Grace ordered a plate herself, and hers came all red and hot - extra chilly. And so, I had to order a 2nd plate, this time also extra chilly. :D

Couldn't resist calling a plate of assam fish and the bendi. Rice was not ready, said the hawker man. So we just had it as a side dish. The gravy was so assam-y ... drank the gravy like soup, since no rice to eat with. We also called curry mee, prawn mee, and Grace's mother had chee cheong farn with the hare koe kau. :D

We're chilling out at J.Co, Queensbay Mall after breakfast, with our Thai Milk Tea. A must have. Dad and Grace's mum had coffee. The drinks came with donuts too. We didn't have the donuts though, still full from breakfast. Not surprising the way we ate like there's no tomorrow, so tapau all for Justine. :D

Our Thai Milk Tea ... if only they paid us commission for every person we tell about this tea ...:D

 Writing out Grace's recipe for her Fried Bee Hoon on the blog.

Left the Mall at 1pm, and drove to BM to meet up with a good friend of ours, Nelson at 1:30pm. His daughter, Winnie, was with him. He ordered the above plate of lobak and carrot-rice thingy. Nice, tasty ... and very oily oh. Think Slim, Think Slim ... :D

We had noodles ... keuh toew thng. Diffferent from the one in Ipoh (Hor Fun).

Photo blur unfortunately.

Bryan took this photo. He had his chopsticks in his right hand, and snapped this photo with his left. No prizes for guessing if he's right or left handed. :D

Day 47 ... Economy Fried Bee Hoon

ECONOMY FRIED BEE HOON

Bryan and I are at the Penang Viva Center, Pulau Tikus @ 7:30pm.

Tonight, Grace brought her homecooked Bee Hoon with the lil condiments. I have never been able to cook fried bee hoon properly, so was very keen to find out how Grace does hers. Mine always come out soggy and the bee hoon will be like all putus-putus. So the first thing she said was, "You must buy the Three Elephant's one."

Oh, so that's Tip Number One.

Bee Hoon Brand - Three Elephant. Bryan said, to make sure You count the elephants. Must be THREE. Not one or two or four. But THREE. :D

Here's how she cooked up a storm of fried vermicelli economy-style.

Grace brought the bee hoon to the center in a food warmer.

1. Prepare 

i. Soak the bee hoon till soft. 

Drain and set aside.

ii. Mix these ingredients : 

soya sauce, black sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce,

mushroom cubes (cubes are available in Singapore only) 

in a bowl of water.

2. Add On

Saute chopped garlic in oil. 

Add the mixture. Add the bee hoon. 

Stir-fry, toss and mix till even. 

Add carrots (strips) and green vegetables (choy sum).

3. Garnish & Serve

Serve with fried bean curd strips, 

fried shallots and sambal belacan.

Bryan says, the bee hoon is fantastic!

Yeah, absolutely delicious. :D The sambal belacan left us all panting for water. Grace's mum made the chilly hot sambal, the traditional way - tumbuk (pound) with the mortar, and she added chilly padi. Grace says to choose the very short chilly padi. Not the long thai ones, but the short pointing-to-the-sky-type, says the chilly expert. :D

Orange Poppy Seed Cake

Baked by Grace. The poppy seeds are flown in from Austria. Don't play.

Method of baking is healthy with less sugar. Half of the cake is now in our car.

Justine will have a feast this evening. :D
(Recipe : gchng.blogspot.com)

Day 46 ... Yogurt Curry Chicken

YOGURT CURRY CHICKEN

WITH BROWN RICE

The above is Justine's plate. No sign of any vegetable, only brown rice banjir (flooded) with yogurt curry. Carol and Kish came over for dinner. We ate at about 6:30 pm today. Tomorrow Carol will be on call and she wanted to sleep early tonight. Her second week at General Hospital KL. She's settling in well. Glad she's back in KL. We made two quick dishes, yogurt curry chicken and mixed vegetables.

Bryan is preparing the ingredients. 

Chop, cut, slice, dice, julienne ...

Justine singing Life After You, and ImPossible.

She heard all the commotion going on in the kitchen, 

decided to take a break from her books, 

and came to join us. Brought her guitar along.

Soon, we were singing in the kitchen. :D

Bryan prepared the curry dish.

Saute onions, garlic and ginger (diced finely).

Add curry paste  (A1 Brand). Fry till fragrant.

Add chicken pieces and mushroom stems (chopped). 

Add water. Didn't have fresh milk in the fridge.

Add potatoes and tomatoes. One large tub of yogurt.

Lemon grass and curry leaves. Pinch of seasalt.

Simmer on medium heat until curry thickens.

(Photo taken while the curry is simmering.)

Took about half an hour before the dish is ready.

I prepared a simple mixed vegetable dish.

Saute garlic and shallots in sesame seed oil. 

Add broccoli, cauliflower and shitake mushrooms (without stem).

Add oyster sauce. Stir fry a bit before adding water. Close lid.

When ready, add in the yellow bell peppers and red tomatoes. 

Toss well and transfer to serving dish.

Cooked the vegetables only after Carol and Kish came over.

Dr Carol's plate.

We had a really nice dinner while watching MERCY on TV. The yogur-ty curry was absolutely delicious, the chicken meat was tender, and the potatoes were out of this world. Vegetables were crunchy to the bite. We all had second helpings, except for Bryan who had a large first helping. :D

Healthy fruit for dessert.

Ganja Cempedak all the way from Jou's fruit orchard in Penang.

I suppose it's called Ganja because after eating,

You just feel good all over. :D

Day 45 ... Pan Fried Ikan Kurau

PAN FRIED IKAN KURAU

(MAH YAU) (TREADFIN)

Picked Bryan up from the coach station at 7:45pm. He said he missed home cooked food, and he wanted to fry fish tonight. He had sms-ed earlier when he was on the coach to take out the mah yau fish from the freezer and to allow it thaw. I brought it out about 4pm. By the time we arrived home, the fish was nicely thawed and waiting to be fried.

So here's how he did it ...

1. Pan Fry the Kurau

Make a few gashes into the Kurau.

Pat it dry with kitchen tissue.

Season with seasalt and black pepper. 

Heat up oil in the frying pan until white smoke is sighted.

Scatter ginger in the the pan. Add the Kurau. Cover lid.

Flip over. When done, turn off flame. 

Remove Kurau from the pan to serving dish.

Simple Fish Gravy  

Mix oyster sauce, arrowroot powder and water in a cup. 

Pour into the hot pan. 

Mixture will immediately sizzle and 

thicken into a gravy consistency. 

Scoop over the Kurau.

2. Water Fry the Vegetables

Heat up a separate pan. Add water.

Add garlic, broccoli and cauliflower.

Add shoyu and sesame seed oil.

Cover lid briefly. Remove from pan.

3. Garnish & Serve

Lime and strips of chilly.

Scatter a pinch of black sesame seeds on brown rice.

My Dinner.

The fish was absolutely crunchy and tasty. 

Ate with my fingers, and am now still sniffing my hand. :D 

Hmmm. Had my rice with marmite tonight. :D

Close Up.

I had one shaker of The Green Drink for breakfast, 

Justine made a second breakfast for me
(egg cooked sunny side up,
fried some chopped onions and half a tomato,
all nicely arranged on a piece of brown bread
with a generous amount of ketchup),

pan mee for lunch and the above for dinner. :D

To Sum Up

1 shake & 3 meals

Juice. Fruit. Water. 

Teh Si Peng.

Time of Posting : 10:57pm

Day 44 ... Oven-Baked Pasta with Sardines

OVEN-BAKED PASTA WITH SARDINES

Bryan is still in Singapore. So the principle of not messing up the kitchen still applies today. Let's not have any frying because there's no man in the house to scrub the pans. :D Decided to do a simple pasta dish in the oven. Found a can of sardines in the food cabinet, and thought would use that.

1. Prepare

(i) Boil the pasta till just under tender but still firm. 

Drain and set aside.

(ii) Remove the bones from the sardines for a smoother texture.

Add chopped onions, chillies, parsley, basil,
yogurt and tomato ketchup.

Mash the sardines up and mix well.

2. Prepare Oven Dish

Drizzle olive oil on the base for easy cleaning later.

Layer potatoes (thin stick size) at the bottom. 

Transfer spaghetti on top.

Pour the sardine-mixture over the pasta.

Cover the dish with tin foil.

Pop the dish into the oven at 180 degrees. 

I set the timer for 45 mins. 

Went to take a shower, 

and did a bit of laundry before the timer went off.

3. Garnish & Serve

Garnish with a sprig of parsley, lemon slice and tomatoes slices. 

Scatter chopped chillies, chopped parsley, strips of carrots and nori. 

Sprinkle a pinch of black sesame seeds. 

Finally, bless the dish with a quick drizzle of flaxseed oil.

Ready to be served.

Bryan's share but we, uh, finished that up too. :D

Slurp ... Hmmm ...

I had my one shaker of The Green Drink this morning, 

fried kueh teow for lunch (with some teachers from my mother's school) 

and sardine pasta for dinner.

To Sum Up

1 shake & 2 meals

Juice. Fruit. Water.

Time of Posting : 11:05 (Saturday)